Dilator



(No Model.)

E. J. PARKER.

DILATOR.

No. 538,120. Patented Apr. 23, 1895.

INVENTOH l E'lz'skallarker.

S E S B w W A TTORNE Y.

ATEN'I anion,

ELISHA J. PARKER, OF DALLAS, TEXAS.

DILATOR.

$PEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 538,120, dated April 23, 1895.

Application filed August 30, 1894. Serial No. 521,744. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ELISHA J. PARKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Dallas, in the county of Dallas and State of Texas, have invented new and useful Improvements in Dilators and Processes of Dilation, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to certain improvements in dilators, for the enlargement of the urethral and other passages or canals, of the human body.

The object of my invention is to provide a dilator formed of elastic material and capater fully described and then particularly pointed out and defined in the claims.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my invention pertains to fully understand and to practice my said invention, I will now proceed to describe the samein detail, reference being made for this purpose to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1, is a'sectional elevation of the di lator, and Fig. 2, is a transverse section of the same. I

The reference-numeral 1, in said drawings, indicates the stem of the dilator, which consists of a slender tube, formed of rubber, or a similarly elastic material, and in its diameter, length, and general appearance, resembling the sound, or bougie, used by surgeons, its diameter being about equal to that of one of the smaller sounds ordinarily used. At its extremity the stem 1 is slightly tapered andprovided with an approximately elliptical, or bulbous point 2, which is of solid rubber, or of such increased thickness as to give it rigidity.

Within the stem 1 are arranged two or more wires 3, of annealed steel, and of any suitable throughout the interior of the stem, are partly,

or wholly, embedded in the rubber forming the cylindrical wall of the stem, preferably the latter. The four ends of the strands emerge from the stem into an enlarged, communicating chamber 5, and are bent outward and then upward, traversing the wall of the chambers 5 and passing into the end of a cylindrical chamber 6, which forms the barrel, or cylinder, of a small air, or fluid pump, which is provided with a suitable piston 7.

I wish it understood that I do not confine my invention to the employment of the type of pump or pumps mentioned as any, pump suitable for the purpose may be used.

The stem of the dilator, as shown in the drawings, is normally straight, but it may be given any desired curvature. Like the flexible sound, or bougie, it yields with great readiness to the curvature of any passage in which it is introduced, the wires 3 giving the required strength to the rubber and affording a high degree of elasticity. As these wires are buried in the rubber at the point 2, and positively secured at their other extremities in the end of the pump cylinder 6, the inflation of the stem by forcing air, or water therein, cannot elongate the stem, and as the equi-d-istant wires lie longitudinally in the stem they give substantially uniform resistance to the interior pressure, so that dilation will expand, or onlarge the stem with uniformity.

By'varying the size, or the size and form, of the stem 1, the instrument may be used as a rectal dilator, or for the enlargement of any other passage where dilation can be employed.

What I claim is- 1. A dilator consisting of a tubular flexible and laterally expansible stem, a series of nonextensible longitudinal wires bent at substantially the middle portion thereof and connecting the two ends of said tubular stem and serving to prevent lengthening of the dilator when its diameter is increased by internal pressure, the end of said stem being formed solid, and the bent portion of said wires being embedded in said solid portion,substantially as described.

2. A dilator consisting of a tubular flexible and expansible stern, a series of steel wires running longitudinally of, and embedded in the side wall of the stem, the end portion of said stem being contracted and made solid, and the ends of the longitudinal wires being embedded in said solid portion, substantially as described.

3. A dilator consisting of a tubular flexible and expansible stem provided at its end with a solid contracted porti0n,longitudinal wires partially embedded in the wall of said stem,

and in the solid contracted portion, an enlarged chamber communicating with the other end of the tubular stem, and a pump integrally connected to the enlarged chamber, the free ends of said longitudinal wires emerging from the stem into the enlarged chamber and then bent outward and upward traversing the wall of said latter named chamber and passing into the end of the fluid pump, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ELISHA J. PARKER.

Witnesses:

ALBERT H. NORRIS, THOS. A. GREEN. 

